"What do you want to accomplish?" Kamui asks, watching Takasugi watch rain slide down the windowpane.
Takasugi only glances at him. "I want to destroy the world."
"What a coincidence. I also have a world I want to destroy."
The falling rain is, apparently, fascinating. "You'll have to dance that one solo. This world is the only one that interests me."
"Ah, but why take the short road to hell when the long road is more enjoyable?"
Takasugi snorts. "Let's see a glimpse of it, then."
"Very well. Fight with me." Kamui's smile shines like a blade.
By the time they get outside the short shower is already over, the sky still nice and cloudy but with little chance of rain. As for the site, they conveniently find an open space close to the inn. There's half a giant metal cage behind Kamui whose purpose Takasugi can't fathom, but as long as he doesn't step on those slippery-looking white squares at the edges of their battlefield, the site looks laughably easy to fight in. There's only one tiny hill on the entire plain.
Of course, the last battle he fought on a plain ended pretty badly, but he was outnumbered then.
"How long will one of us dying delay the plan by?"
"Not long, provided the other finds some extra mercenaries."
"Perfect."
Takasugi launches himself at his opponent, blade to one side. As he slashes horizontally, Kamui leaps nimbly over it, folded umbrella stabbing a hole in the air where Takasugi's head used to be. Kamui lands and swings behind himself one-handed, but Takasugi blocks and steps into short range, aiming to cut off Kamui's primary hand. Of course a weaponless Kamui is not truly weaponless, but a significant difference in reach should give Takasugi some advantage.
Unfortunately for him, Kamui dodges the upward slice by dropping his umbrella, retracting his hand, and catching the handle again as soon as the blade has gone by. Now close to the ground, he aims a low sweep at Takasugi's legs.
Not having time to block, Takasugi jumps over the blow, and brings his sword down on Kamui's head as he falls.
He strikes only dirt, as Kamui rolls to the side.
They clash a few more times, quickly concluding that there are no holes in either's defense. If they want an opening, they will have to make it.
Kamui attacks first this time, slashing at an angle that makes Takasugi bring his sword up to block. Anticipating the movement, Kamui stops the blade with his bare hand instead, and steps forward, turning the swing into a lunging strike at his opponent's chest.
Seeing it coming but unable to dodge, Takasugi goes flying backward, sliding across the ground into the metal cage that somehow does not break. It will never be the same shape again.
Takasugi immediately stands, pulling himself from the wire frame, and takes a few seconds to brush himself off. Kamui waits with surprising patience, eyes hard and grin savage. He doesn't seem to care that his empty hand is covered in blood.
"Not a very fair trade," Takasugi comments offhandedly, as if talking about an exchange of shougi pieces.
"I agree," says Kamui. "How many ribs did I break?"
Takasugi charges without answering, a lunging stab that Kamui slides under and around as he grabs Takasugi's forward wrist, both facing the same direction as Kamui aims to flip him. Instead Kamui nearly loses his foot, since Takasugi in midstep somehow redirects all of his forward motion downward, planting his feet and swinging at the only part of Kamui his sword can reach from here: Kamui's far leg.
Ignoring the deep cut, Kamui takes advantage of Takasugi's momentary inability to move his weapon. Letting go of Takasugi's wrist, he grabs his umbrella's handle with the bloody hand, and slams the heavy weapon two-handed into the flat of Takasugi's katana.
The folded steel snaps easily, a piece staying buried in Kamui's leg.
Taking a cut from Takasugi's now-shortsword in order to avoid stepping, Kamui brings the umbrella around in a short arc that ends in the ribs he smashed earlier, sending Takasugi back toward the metal cage.
This time it breaks, and Takasugi flies through it and into the cement wall behind it. He doesn't move.
Leaving the blade in his leg to staunch blood flow, Kamui limps over.
Takasugi's smirking, the pupil of his single eye showing he's just this side of a concussion. "That was a lively dance," he says, before coughing wetly.
Kamui's bloodlust-grin of battle has subsided, so it is with a calm smile that he offers his hand. "Fight with me," he says again.
Takasugi pauses only a brief moment before he takes the hand and shakes it, drawing it back to find that he's holding a nut and a bolt.
"The old dealer cheated. How about you roll the dice?"
"We'll have to go find a bowl," Takasugi deadpans.
As soon as he puts away the 'dice,' his hand is grabbed and he's drawn into standing, his arm going around Kamui's shoulders.
"You be my foot," Kamui jokes, "and I'll be your ribs."
"...This is going to be a very long road."